[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-10309 ____________________

LEVI GOLDFARB, BENJAMIN GOLDFARB, Plaintiffs-Appellees, versus RELIANCE STANDARD LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, an Illinois corporation,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 0:22-cv-60804-FAM USCA11 Case: 23-10309 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 07/02/2024 Page: 2 of 25

2 Opinion of the Court 23-10309

____________________

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and JILL PRYOR and MARCUS, Circuit Judges. JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judge: Brothers Levi and Benjamin Goldfarb (“the Goldfarbs”) sought payment of a $500,000 claim under an Accidental Death & Dismemberment insurance policy after the insured, their father, Dr. Alexander Goldfarb-Rumyantzev (“Dr. Goldfarb”), died while mountain climbing in a remote area of Pakistan. Although Dr. Goldfarb’s death is uncontested, his body was never found. The in- surer, Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company, denied the claim because the cause of Dr. Goldfarb’s death was unknown; therefore, his beneficiaries could not show that he died by accident. The Goldfarb brothers challenged the denial in district court under the Employee Retirement Security Act, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B) (“ERISA”). The district court ruled that Dr. Gold- farb’s death was accidental and that Reliance Standard’s failure to pay the Accidental Death & Dismemberment claim was arbitrary and capricious. The court thus granted summary judgment to the Goldfarbs and denied Reliance Standard’s cross motion for sum- mary judgment. The insurer appeals the summary judgment and the district court’s denial of its cross motion. After careful review of the parties’ briefs and the record, and with the benefit of oral argument, we disagree with the district court. Reliance Standard’s decision that Dr. Goldfarb’s death was USCA11 Case: 23-10309 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 07/02/2024 Page: 3 of 25

23-10309 Opinion of the Court 3

not accidental under the insurance policy was supported by reason- able grounds, and the denial of the Goldfarbs’ claim for benefits was not otherwise arbitrary and capricious. Reliance Standard was thus entitled to summary judgment. We reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the Goldfarbs and direct the court to enter judgment in Reliance Standard’s favor. I. BACKGROUND We divide our discussion of the background for this appeal into four parts. First, we describe Dr. Goldfarb’s presumed death and the surrounding circumstances. Second, we set out the relevant terms of Dr. Goldfarb’s Accidental Death & Dismemberment (“AD&D”) insurance policy. Third, we present the Goldfarbs’ claim for AD&D benefits. Fourth, we recount the case’s procedural his- tory. A. Dr. Goldfarb’s Climb and Disappearance Dr. Goldfarb, age 57, vanished while attempting to summit Pastore Peak, a 6,209-meter-high mountain in Pakistan. His body